Imagery Exercise Rules

Imagery Exercise Rules

• Friday, March 4, 2022

Whenever I get bored with writing, or want to liven things up, I start to play games with it. This is one of those games, -Malachi- 

The instructions for this game are simple, write the longest sentence you can (it's okay if the grammar isn't quite up to par at this point).

First Run:

The dancers’ bare, travel-hardened feet pound out of rhythm, out of sync on the hard packed street while four minstrels singing different tunes on apple laden carts are guiding the dancers one by one into their rhythm, into their tune, and slowly as the sun sets, the minstrels intertwine their songs, and suddenly, when the sun's last rays disappear over the cottage covered hill, they all STOP.

After you write your crazy long sentence, break it up into several pieces and make each of those sentences into two. EG:

The dancers’ bare, travel-hardened feet pound out of rhythm, out of sync on the hard packed street

Becomes.

The dancers’ bare, travel hardened feet pound out of rhythm, out of sync on the hard packed street. The dancers’ bonnets, caps and loose pigtails jiggle and flop without reason to stop.

After you do that, add one long sentence to the end, then repeat until satisfied. Feel free to ignore the first parts after you get a few runs through.

Second Run:

The dancers’ bare, travel hardened feet pound out of rhythm, out of sync on the hard packed street. The dancers’ bonnets, caps and loose pigtails jiggle and flop without reason to stop.

Four minstrels singing different tunes on apple-laden carts are guiding the dancers one- by- one into their rhythm, into their tune. Each one is singing their own bold adventure or touching love song. Slowly, as the sun sets, the minstrels intertwine their songs to sing a similar chorus or the same catch phrase. They strain their brows to keep their tune perfect for the occasion.

Now the whole crowd stomps in rhythm with the minstrels singing in sync. Suddenly, as the sun's last golden rays disappear, they stop. 

Now all eyes are turned to the doorway where the young battleborn knight takes his bride’s gloved hand and leads her through the sunset silence to his coach where together they head to the west, followed by a procession of candle bearing peasants, all drifting to the village square lighted by fireflies from the starry fields where the marriage feast t’will be held.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash